5 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 27)

4. Sami Fights For His Right

Raw Sami Zay Kevin Owens
WWE.com

The never-ending belittling of the talent by Stephanie McMahon is annoying and oftentimes pointless, but maybe – just maybe – her poor treatment of Sami Zayn is something.

Stephanie has been all over Sami for a while now, and with Zayn serving as the fired GM Mick Foley’s avatar, the Raw commissioner has directed her venom at him. Stephanie ordered Sami into a match against Kevin Owens to see if he could earn a spot in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (you know, after half the match has been filled by guys just declaring for spots). And if Zayn lost, he would be fired.

Zayn stood up to Stephanie last week, and rather than look like a sad puppy dog, he bit his lip, then went out and won (with a little help from Chris Jericho) to save his job and earn a spot in the battle royal. Sure, it might not lead anywhere long-term, but it was a nice development to see. Bonus points if this continues and Sami standing up to authority figures actually is a thing.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.